KR100669257B1 - Apparatus and method for freeze-drying using heat pump system - Google Patents

Abstract

A freeze-drying apparatus and a method using a heat pump system are provided to reduce power consumption less than 70% using waste heat through automatic control. A freeze-drying apparatus using a heat pump system includes a compressor(10), a condenser(20), a cold trap(30), and an evaporator heat plate(40). The apparatus further includes a pre-freeze-drying pipe circuit, a freeze-drying pipe circuit, a cold trap pipe circuit, and a thawing pipe circuit. The pre-freeze-drying pipe circuit circulates refrigerant through the compressor, the condenser, and the evaporator heat plate. The freeze-drying pipe circuit has a pipe circuit for heating the evaporator heat plate to transmit the high pressure refrigerant to the evaporator heat plate. The cold trap pipe circuit maintains a temperature of the heat plate to form a condition for performing a freeze-drying process. The thawing pipe circuit removes moisture(ice) deposited on the cold trap.

Description

Freeze drying apparatus and method using heat pump method {Apparatus and method for freeze-drying using heat pump system}

1 is an overall piping system diagram of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a piping system involved in the prefreezing action.

Figure 3 is a view for explaining the temperature control action of the evaporator hot plate.

4 is a view for explaining the operation of the cold trap.

5 is a diagram for explaining the thawing action.

The present invention relates to a lyophilization apparatus and method for reducing energy consumption and noise by using a heat pump method in a conventional lyophilizer having high energy consumption.

Freeze-drying is a drying method that sublimates and collects and removes water in an ice state, and is a three-dimensional drying method by three-phase intersection of sublimation and freezing using thermal properties and vacuum vapor pressure. It aims to improve biochemical properties, and the drying method is expanding due to the low moisture content of the product due to the calorific value per volume, the extreme method of drying temperature and vacuum. Conventional lyophilizer is a device that rapidly freezes raw materials and removes them with water under a constant vacuum condition. The lyophilizer has very few physical and chemical changes in materials, and destroys constituents (for example, nutrients) of dried materials (for example, food). Destruction) is minimized.

The general components of the freeze dryer are as follows. The freezing may be cyclically performed by the evaporation and liquefaction of an evaporator together with a compressor and a condenser. A cold trap in the form of a cooling coil is used, which effectively blocks moisture and various organic solvent gases such as vacuum load, corrosion and heat load of an expensive vacuum pump. There is also a preheating shelf for prefreezing. In addition to these components, there is a dryer for drying the object and an observation window for observing the lyophilization state of the object. Since the coupling relationship and operation of each of these components is well-known technology, further description thereof will be omitted.

However, the conventional lyophilizer configured as described above consumes a lot of energy because it needs to simultaneously start the refrigeration system, the heating system, and the vacuum system. Therefore, the price is the most expensive compared to other drying methods and costs a lot of operation is applied only to pharmaceutical or some high value-added health food. Therefore, it is required to minimize the energy loss (for example, power consumption) by improving the shortcomings of the freeze dryer.

On the other hand, the heat pump method has been applied to a lot of energy saving. Heat has the property of moving from a high place to a low place, and a heat pump is named after lifting heat from a low temperature to a high temperature. Initially, it was developed for evaporating compressed refrigerant such as refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners to take away heat from surroundings. However, it is now used to encompass a cooling device that transfers a low temperature heat source to a high temperature by using heat of a refrigerant or condensation heat, a heating device that transfers a high temperature heat source to a low temperature, and a combined cooling and heating device. Heat pumps are classified into electric, engine, and heat sources, waste heat sources, and geothermal sources, depending on the type of drive. In addition, according to the heat supply method, it is classified into heating, cooling, dehumidification, and heating and cooling according to the use range of hot air, cold air, hot water, cold water, and pump.

The structure consists of a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, and an expansion valve. The principle of operation is to repeat the cycle of vaporizing the compressed refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure in the compressor and then sending it to the condenser to radiate high temperature heat outward. In contrast to cooling, the system is configured so that the condenser acts as an evaporator and the evaporator acts as a condenser so that the condensed refrigerant heats up with hot outside air to cool the target point to be cooled.

Currently, most heat pumps have a structure that combines cooling and heating. Normally, the air heat source has a disadvantage in that when the external temperature is 5 ° C. or less, the performance is degraded, and mechanical damage occurs and operation is not smooth. On the other hand, hydrothermal sources and geothermal sources are attracting attention as new heat pumps that can continuously supply heat even in harsh areas and replace energy sources with high energy efficiency.

The present invention provides a freeze-drying apparatus and method having a piping system for using a heat pump method for the purpose of minimizing energy loss by improving the disadvantages of the existing freeze dryer. In the existing refrigeration system by applying the principle of the heat pump by using the heat of condensation discharged to the outside by using the waste heat by automatic control without using a heater can reduce the existing electricity consumption to 70% or less.

The present invention relates to a lyophilization apparatus comprising a compressor, a condenser, a cold trap, and an evaporator hot plate.

The configuration of the freeze-drying apparatus according to the present invention comprises a pre-freeze piping circuit consisting of a circuit for circulating the refrigerant from the compressor back to the compressor via the condenser and the evaporator hot plate; A freeze-dried piping circuit comprising a piping circuit for circulating a refrigerant through a compressor, an evaporator hot plate, a condenser, and a cold trap, and then recirculating the refrigerant to the compressor. ; The high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant from the compressor flows to the condenser, cold trap, and compressor to lower the temperature of the hot plate, preliminarily freezes, maintain the temperature of the hot plate before the vacuum pump is operated, and freeze-dry by dropping the temperature of the cold trap. Cold trap piping circuit to create a condition for doing; Defrost piping that circulates in a circuit consisting of a compressor, a condenser, a cold trap, an evaporator hot plate, and a compressor to remove water (ice) that has accumulated on the cold trap by flowing it directly to the cold trap by using a high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the freezer. It consists of a circuit.

In addition, the freeze-drying method according to the present invention comprises a pre-freezing step of circulating the refrigerant from the compressor to the compressor again through the condenser and the evaporator hot plate; A lyophilization step of circulating a refrigerant through a compressor, an evaporator hot plate, a condenser, and a cold trap to the compressor, and transferring the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant from the compressor to the evaporator hot plate to heat the evaporator hot plate; The high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant from the compressor flows to the condenser, cold trap, and compressor to lower the temperature of the hot plate, preliminarily freezes, maintain the temperature of the hot plate before the vacuum pump is started, and freeze-dry the temperature of the cold trap. Cold trap step to create a condition for; It is a thawing step that circulates refrigerant through a compressor, condenser, cold trap, evaporator hot plate, and compressor to remove the water (ice) that has accumulated on the cold trap by flowing it directly to the cold trap by using a high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the freezer. Is done.

Here, the lyophilization further includes a function of controlling the temperature of the hot plate by supplying a low temperature low pressure gas refrigerant evaporated through a condenser to the evaporator hot plate.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 shows an entire piping system of a heat pump type freeze dryer according to the present invention. The basic components are similar to conventional lyophilizers. That is, the compressor 10, the condenser 20, the cold trap 30, the evaporator hot plate 40, the observation window 50, and the cold trap 30 includes a temperature controller 31. In addition, it is obvious that a dryer (not shown) is included.

A feature of the present invention resides in a piping system connecting these basic components. That is, by operating the solenoid valve by the electronic control, the pipe connected to each component is opened and closed to operate the system in accordance with a predetermined operating cycle.

First, the entire piping configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

The pipe P1 connected to the outlet of the compressor 10 is connected to the pipe P2 via the solenoid valve SV7, and the other end of the P2 is connected to the inlet of the condenser 20. The outlet of the condenser 20 is connected to the pipe P3 and P3 is connected to the solenoid valve SV1. SV1 is connected to expansion valve EXP1, which is connected to the inlet of evaporator hot plate 40 through pipe P4. The outlet of the evaporator hot plate 40 is connected to SV2 through P5, and SV2 is connected to the inlet of the compressor 10 through P6. In addition, P7 is branched between P3 and SV1, P7 is connected to P8 through SV3 and expansion valve EXP3, and P8 is connected to one end of cold trap 30 and EXP2. One end of P9 is connected to the other end of the cold trap 30, the other end of P9 is connected to SV9, and SV9 is connected to P6 through P10 to enter the compressor 10. On the other hand, in P2, P11 is branched and connected to SV5, and from P5, P12 is branched and connected to the other end of SV5. In P4, P13 is branched and connected to SV4, and in P1, P14 is branched and connected to the other end of SV4. In addition, in P13, P15 is branched and connected to expansion valve EXP3, and EXP3 is connected to SV8. The other end of SV8 is connected to P16 branched from P9. At P8, P17 is branched and connected to one end of SV6, and the other end of SV6 is connected to P18 branched from P3.

In FIG. 1, the solenoid valve SV and the expansion valve EXP are controlled by an automatic control method in the control unit, and the configuration of the control unit will not be described separately because they are substantially the same as the operation of each cycle of the freeze dryer piping system according to the present invention. . Those skilled in the art will be able to configure a suitable control unit in various ways for the operation of the present invention to be described below.

Referring to the operation of each division of the entire piping system configured as described above are as follows.

(1) preliminary freezing

Figure 2 shows a pre-freezing step in the heat pump type freeze dryer according to the present invention. The pipe circuit shown by the thick line is pre-freezing. P1, SV7, P2, condenser 20, P3, SV1, EXP1, P4, evaporator hot plate 40, P5, SV2, P6 from the compressor 10 The circuit which returns to the compressor 10 again through the formation is formed. To do this preliminary freezing action, the controller (not shown) must be programmed to turn off SV3, SV4, SV5, SV6, SV8, SV9 and turn on SV1, SV2, SV7 and EXP1. This can be easily designed by those skilled in the art. The prefreezing step shown in Figure 2 is similar to the structure of a conventional general evaporative freezing apparatus before the full operation of the vacuum freeze dryer. Therefore, the operation of each of the basic components of the compressor 10, the condenser 20, the evaporator hot plate 40, various solenoid valves, expansion valve (EXP1) is apparent to those skilled in the art.

(2) Temperature control action in the evaporator hot plate 40

3 shows a full-fledged operation of the lyophilizer according to the present invention and shows a piping system for freezing an object (food, medicine, etc.) placed on the evaporator hot plate 40. In the freeze dryer, the function of the cold trap 30 is required. To repeat the above description, the cold trap 30 acts to condense moisture evaporated from the object.

In Fig. 3, the piping circuit includes the compressor 10, P1, P14, SV4, P13, P4, evaporator hot plate 40, P12, SV5, P11, P2, condenser 20, P3, P7, SV3, EXP2, It consists of P8, cold trap 30, P9, SV9, P10, P6, and compressor 10.

The refrigerant from the compressor 10 is a gas of high temperature and high pressure. This is discharged into the air using an air-cooled or water-cooled system using the condenser 20 in the existing system. However, in the system of the present invention it was used for heating the hot plate. The refrigerant from the compressor 10 is used for heating in the hot plate 40 through P1, P14, SV4, P13 and P4. It is controlled by the solenoid valve SV4 and works in conjunction with the solenoid valve SV7. In addition, the low temperature low pressure gas refrigerant evaporated through P1, P14, SV4, P13, P4, hotplate 40, P12, SV5, P2, condenser 20, P3, SV1, EXP1, P4 to maintain the temperature of the hotplate. The temperature of the hot plate is controlled by supplying the hot plate 40.

(3) cold trap

4 shows a piping system for explaining the operation of the cold trap 30 in particular. 4, the high temperature and high pressure gas refrigerant from the compressor 10 is P1, SV7, P2, condenser 20, P3, P7, SV3, EXP2, P8, cold trap 30, P9, SV9, P10, P6, It can be seen that the circuit is formed by the loop of the compressor 10.

The system of the present invention reduces the temperature of the hot plate 40 and maintains the temperature of the hot plate 40 before the vacuum pump operates after preliminary freezing, and drops the temperature of the cold trap to create a condition for freeze drying. to be.

(4) defrosting

Fig. 5 shows a piping system in the thawing action of the present invention. This defrosting is also a process of removing the water (ice) that has been implanted in the cold trap 30 by flowing directly to the cold trap 30 by using a high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the freezer (10). Piping circuits include compressor 10, P1, SV7, P2, condenser 20, P3, P18, SV6, P17, P8, cold trap 30, P9, P16, SV8, EXP3, P13, P4, evaporator hotplate ( 40), P5, SV2, P6, and compressor 10 in this order. In addition, the sensor 31 can finish the work by setting the temperature to determine whether or not defrost and automatically stop the system.

According to the present invention, the power consumption used in the lyophilizer is greatly reduced, and a heater and a circulation pump are not required, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and operating costs, and also reducing noise.

Claims (6)

In the freeze-drying device comprising a compressor, a condenser, a cold trap, an evaporator hot plate, A pre-freeze piping circuit consisting of a circuit for circulating refrigerant from the compressor to the compressor through the condenser and the evaporator hot plate; A freeze-dried piping circuit comprising a piping circuit for circulating a refrigerant through a compressor, an evaporator hot plate, a condenser, and a cold trap, and then recirculating the refrigerant to the compressor. , The high-temperature, high-pressure gas refrigerant from the compressor flows to the condenser, cold trap, and compressor to lower the temperature of the hot plate, preliminarily freezes, maintain the temperature of the hot plate before the vacuum pump is operated, and freeze-dry by dropping the temperature of the cold trap. Cold trap piping circuit that creates the conditions for Defrost piping that circulates in a circuit consisting of a compressor, a condenser, a cold trap, an evaporator hot plate, and a compressor to remove water (ice) that has accumulated on the cold trap by flowing it directly to the cold trap by using a high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the freezer. A freeze-drying apparatus using a heat pump method, consisting of a circuit. The freeze-drying apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cold trap piping circuit further includes a sensor configured to set a predetermined temperature to determine whether or not to defrost and automatically stop the system. The freeze-driving method of claim 1, wherein the freeze-drying piping circuit further includes a piping circuit for controlling a temperature of the hot plate by supplying a low temperature low pressure gas refrigerant evaporated through a condenser to the evaporator hot plate. Drying device. In the lyophilization method carried out in a lyophilization apparatus comprising a compressor, a condenser, a cold trap, an evaporator hot plate, A prefreezing step of circulating the refrigerant from the compressor through the condenser and the evaporator hotplate and back to the compressor, A freeze-drying step comprising circulating a refrigerant through a compressor, an evaporator hot plate, a condenser, and a cold trap to the compressor again, and transferring the high temperature and high pressure refrigerant from the compressor to the evaporator hot plate to heat the evaporator hot plate, The high-temperature, high-pressure gaseous refrigerant from the compressor flows to the condenser, cold trap, and compressor to lower the temperature of the hot plate, preliminarily freezes, maintain the temperature of the hot plate before the vacuum pump is started, and freeze-dry the temperature of the cold trap. Cold trap step that creates a condition for It is a thawing step that circulates refrigerant through a compressor, condenser, cold trap, evaporator hot plate, and compressor to remove the water (ice) that has accumulated on the cold trap by flowing it directly to the cold trap by using a high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas from the freezer. A lyophilization method using a heat pump method. The freeze-drying method of claim 4, further comprising, in the cold trap step, setting a predetermined temperature to determine whether or not to defrost and automatically stopping the system. The method of claim 4, wherein the freeze-drying step further comprises controlling a temperature of the hot plate by supplying a low temperature low pressure gas refrigerant evaporated through a condenser to the evaporator hot plate. .

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